Page 111 of Unraveling Fate

She stalked around the desk, clenching and unclenching her fists.Stubborn old man.“And my father. He did the same thing after my mother left us. Buthemanaged to pull himself out of it and be happy again, and he didn’t even have the burden of protecting the well-being of the entire planet to motivate him. Other people still have their Harriets. Do you want themalltolose them? Do you want the earth to die because you wouldn’t move on?”

Thomas jutted his chin forward but didn’t answer.

“Thomas.” She grabbed his shoulders. “If you don’t care about the rest of humanity, then do it because you care about me. Because you don’t want me to lose what you lost.”

He shook out of her grip and went to the window.

“You do actually care about me, don’t you? Or was that a lie? Was hurting Taran really all you were after?” She trailed off. She had formed this plan based on her belief that some part of Thomas still cared.

His jaw worked back and forth. When he turned to her, tears ran from his already-bloodshot eyes. “I cared about Canon too. Bloody lot of good it did either of us.”

She stepped back. She had no words for that. Her own feelings about Canon’s death still roiled.

“Why are you here, Cadenza?” Thomas asked, rubbing his eyes.

She took the impromptu invitation from her purse and placed it on his desk. “To ask you to come to my wedding.”

Twenty-Seven

Thomas hefted a moving box from his desk to the floor and scrubbed at the stubble on his face. He’d get no sleep tonight after Cadenza’s ridiculous invitation. Not that the wedding invitation lurking on his desk was the reason. Just like the nightmares about small, winking lights on the cave chandelier weren’t the reason he hadn’t slept the last two nights.

No,he told himself.There’s just so much to be getting on with before the new owners take possession of the club.

He gathered up a stack of sheet music from the keyboard to drop into the box, and The Flower Duet fluttered to the floor. A hollow ache seared his chest. He kicked the sheet music aside.

Don’t think about it. Don’t waste a single thought.

The wall that had transformed into the cave entrance wase bare, bookshelf contents already packed. The wall stared at him, impassive, dispassionate.

Thomas threw a metronome at it.

“Now, now, you don’t want to leave a dent for the new owner,” a voice chided behind Thomas.

Thomas rolled his eyes. No doubt it was another legal gopher with more papers for him to sign. Gone were the days of an easy exit. This modern age monitored everything in triplicate.

“Tell your boss his wall will be fine.”

“Myboss does not care about your wall.” The voice changed, muffling the room, absorbing all ambient noise. The quiet thickened around Thomas, pressing against his arms, his chest, till turning to see the man at the door was a struggle.

The face was new—Thomas hadn’t met this reincarnation before—but the presence was the same.

“You.”

The new-face-old-presence laughed and strolled into the office to sit in Thomas’s chair.

“Vasilios Pearce.” Pearce nodded by way of introduction. “I’m actually a member of your little club. We were almost in the same room at the same time, but I managed to avoid it. Although I shouldn’t have worried.” His lip curled. “Your sight has grown dim, Seer of the Fates.”

Thomas didn’t argue. He’d managed to drive away the only people he’d cared about in centuries and apparently failed to see the High Priest of the Silence in his own house.

“What do you want?” Thomas asked. The Fates had sealed the cave against the Silence ages ago. Even Thomas lacked the power to let them in, Pearce had to know that. “You can’t get in, no matter what words you throw at me.”

“Oh, believe me, I know.” Pearce rummaged through loose documents on the desk. The muffling effect of the High Priest’s presence swallowed the dry rasp of paper on paper. “Why else do you think I spent so many years positioning Canon to go in for me. He was supposed to meet me here today, but he didn’t show. I can only assume he came to see you early. To have him run off on his own only tofail. Such a disappointment.”

Thomas’s pulse pounded. This monstrosity of a man was the one responsible for planting the idea of being the Crown in Canon’s head. He’d sent him to his doom.“You would have made Canon your puppet,” he spat.

Pearce bared his teeth. “You would have made him the servant of chaos.”

“If you know you can’t get in the cave, what do you want?” Thomas demanded again. “I’m of no use to you.” If they were going to kill him, he wished they’d get on with it. He’d finally see Harriet again.